A disgraced doctor who was acquitted of mischief last year is suing the province and the Ontario Provincial Police officer who investigated him.

Charles Nicholas Rathe, 52, is claiming damages of $4.5 million. In a statement of claim filed in Windsor’s Superior Court, the former Belle River doctor says he is the victim of negligent investigation and malicious prosecution that cost him his medical licence and his health.

No statements of defence have been filed. Rathe’s claims have not been tested in court.

Rathe was acquitted of filing a bogus complaint with police. Rathe told them a patient he had hired to work in his now-defunct medical practice had stolen his ID and forged his name on a car lease. Police believed Rathe had had an affair with the woman and indeed signed the lease, so they charged him instead.

Rathe, who has battled drug addiction, was convicted of assault in 2007 for punching a woman in the face during a road rage incident.